Have a little whine: These people have no shame. And no new ideas. 24.3.2013

Thanks to the friends who pointed out Greg Ray’s article about Civic Park’s need for paving. Or need according to some.

Tents and Radars and Spring 3.9.2011

Tents have been in Civic Park for over a week and I expect will stay there until the next Council discussion about Laman Street on Sept 13th. Go down and visit, have a chat, take a photo, sign the petition, get the latest dirt news on what’s happening – make a memory you can tell your children about how you helped save those magnificent trees.

Slide show 2.9.2011

Slide shows had an undeserved bad reputation in the days before digital cameras. Now that they’re DIY – and do it alone – there’s no excuse for whining about them: just don’t look.

Here’s a slide show of the protest in Civic Park on Monday morning just gone – where people gathered to form the community picket line in advance of the trees being taken out.

Operation Beanstalk 31.7.2011

Get a load of this – ‘Operation Beanstalk’ is alleged to be the name of the process of felling the Laman Street trees. Which rocket scientist on Council thought of that, do you think? Perhaps the same person who thought of the Laman Street Not-Sorry book and liquidambars as replacement trees for the Hill’s figs.

Children and Civic Park 25.2.2011

Take a child to a park and s/he’ll have a good time with or without something that screams ‘Play Area’ but it’s always seemed a shame to me that there’s no beautiful play equipment in our CBD park. This means the poor dracaenas cop it from kids climbing on them – mine are as guilty as everyone else’s – because there’s nothing else to use.

Your submission on the Design Framework for Laman St and Civic Park 21.2.2011

Submissions about Newcastle City Council’s draft Design Framework on Laman Street and the Civic Precinct are due on 28th February 2011. This post lists some questions worth considering.

National Service ceremony 14.2.2011

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the reintroduction of national service in Australia. The commemoration that was held in Newcastle started in Laman Street in front of our largest war memorial, the Cultural Centre – and under the beautiful Hill’s fig trees.

You can read the short Herald article here. I’m glad I went. Here are some photos. As usual, double-click on any photo to enlarge it. Home

Before and after shots 24.1.2011

Presumably we have Energy Australia to thank for the latest bit of barbarism in the CBD. Sorry – that makes it sound like barbarism is common; it isn’t.

Last night’s celebration 19.12.2010

Had a lovely gathering under our beautiful fig trees last night to celebrate a successful campaign.

Almost Speechless 9.12.2010

On my way to a meeting this afternoon I took a photo for a friend of these wonderful aerial roots at the western end of Laman Street – that’s the end of the street where the trees have so far escaped the beady eye of the QTRA assessor.